FINANCE Minister Clyde Caruana
won't move an inch amid calls for
concessions to the Budget 2027
measures impacting non-EU
workers.
In an interview with Malta-
Today, Caruana said that,
save for some cosmetic
changes, the meas-
ures he announced
in his budget are,
as far as he is
concerned, "set
in stone".
C a r u a n a ' s
s t a t e m e n t
comes amid at-
tempts by some
within the Labour
Party and govern-
ment, who are pri-
vately expressing
concerns with the
measures impacting
third country nation-
als.
Several PL and government
sources, who spoke to Malta-
Today on condition of an-
onymity described a last-
ditch attempt to ensure the
burdens imposed on non-EU
workers are shared with em-
ployers.
As a result of the budget
m e a s u r e s ,
third coun-
try na-
t i o n a l s
(TCNs), who do not have long-term res-
idency will no longer benefit from free
public transport and childcare. Non-EU
workers with driving licences will be
made to pay a new €83 monthly fee un-
less they work as drivers.
The measures also introduce higher
application and renewal fees, as well as
an annual €400 "infrastructure contri-
bution" that must be paid by new
applicants and TCNs who
are already in Malta and
want to renew their resi-
dence.
The fi-
n a n c e
m i n -
ister has
described the
higher fees and re-
moval of benefits
as measures intend-
ed to increase the cost for
businesses employing non-EU workers,
thereby reducing demand for new TCNs.
But as things currently stand, employers
are not obliged to cover their employees'
new costs.
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CONTINUES PAGE 2
PAGE 16
CLYDE WON'T BUDGE
Burdens on non-EU workers
Labour officials, MPs
and unions, lobby for a
more human approach
MATTHEW
FARRUGIA
mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt
Clyde Caruana
(Photo: Daniel Tihn/
MaltaToday)
